TheSportsCampus

Arsenal are looking to secure the services of Montpellier captain Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is believed to be a long term admirer of the French defender and has been linked with the player before. The versatile defender has been a part of the Montpellier set up since his youth days and graduated to the first team in 2007. Since then, he has earned a commendable 190 caps for the current Ligue-1 champions. Arsenal fans though shouldn't put their hopes into him contributing much on the goal scoring front though, as he has found the back of the net just 4 times in all competitions.

While many top clubs including AC Milan and Chelsea were after him in the past, Montpellier had managed to hold them off having made rapid strides themselves last year, winning the French league title that brought them to the Champions League for the first time in their history. However, this year, the script hasn’t been all that good for the French Champions after being knocked out in the group stages of the Champions League and struggling to keep pace in Ligue-1 so far.

23 year old Yanga-Mbiwa is therefore considering a move out of the club despite being contracted to them till 2015, which has put top European clubs on alert regarding a possible swoop.

Arsenal, at the moment are considered to be front runners to secure his services, having scouted him extensively of late and are likely to make an official offer in January. Should the move materialize, Yanga-Mbiwa promises to be a great addition to the Gunners squad as he is very accomplished defender capable of playing anywhere in the back line and could be a useful holding midfielder capable of filling the shoes of former Arsenal man Alex Song.